Where Indians saw in the porcupine a valuable resource, twentieth century inhabitants of North America have treated the animal as a pest that destroys property and damages timber. Porcupines chew on wood structures, particularly those made of plywood, in wooded, rural areas throughout Canada and Alaska and northeastern, northern, and western regions of the United States. This behavior causes particularly heavy damage to outbuildings such as sheds and barns and vacation houses which are not continuously occupied, as well as to wood implements, canoes, etc.
Until recently, many states offered bounties for porcupines killed, and some undertook massive poisoning programs. Porcupine eradication programs are costly and often proceed blindly without the necessary monitoring for proper biological control. Accordingly, it is desirable to find an inexpensive way to deter porcupines from attacking wood structures which would be easy to administer and present a low risk of irreversible ecological impact.